Episode 13
The preliminaries were in full swing at Seoun Hall.
To say they were simply fellow students from the same school, their level was not low.
"Wow!"
Every time good music flowed out, the students shouted with all their might.
It was called a recital preliminary round, but from the perspective of onlookers, it was no different from a full-fledged performance.
"Wow, everyone's good? How do they only pick a few from here."
A student who had been continuously filming the stage with a camcorder said.
They said we had to vote when leaving, and she was already worried about it.
Because there were far too many stages she liked.
"Are they that good?"
Of course, not everyone was so immersed in the performances.
The friend of the student who had said since morning that she wouldn't come to watch the performance.
From the beginning until now, she had sat in her seat with the same expression.
"Yeah, the instrumental piece earlier, and just now an original song too. There are too many candidates."
"Then you write my ballot too."
"Huh? Why, wasn't there a stage you liked?"
"It's not that there weren't any, but nothing really stood out."
"What about that instrumental piece at the beginning?"
"Felt like a mobile game BGM? It's nice to listen to, I guess."
"...What about Senior Bak Yunseok's rap earlier?"
"Uh... he has a loud voice?"
"Wow, that senior is so good. Rhythm-wise and everything. And his delivery is good too."
"Delivery?"
"His power of delivery. Delivery."
"...I didn't get that, though."
Her friend placed a hand on her own forehead.
"Ha, fine. Then what about the original song just now? This one was good enough to be a pop song, wasn't it?"
"Well..."
Her friend pointed at the stage.
Pin Legs, who had been performing until just now, was packing up their equipment and leaving the stage.
'It wasn't all that great.'
About to speak honestly, she worried her friend would get passionate again, so she just equivocated.
"I don't really know about that one."
"Yeah... It's my fault for dragging a music illiterate here by force."
"Come on, it's not that bad."
Honestly, she had thought it was worth coming at least once.
Only once, though.
Everyone was working hard and doing well, which was nice to see, and there wasn't any music bad enough to be unpleasant to listen to.
'As expected, next time I should go take photos instead.'
Nothing had approached her with as much charm as her own major yet.
"We're also performing an original song."
It was the moment a performer stepped onto the stage that her ears perked up.
One pianist and one rapper.
Compared to the previous teams, it felt simplified, but somehow the expectant murmuring from the students was louder than before.
"Are those the seniors?"
"Yeah, the ones who did Rebound. And they're doing another original song!"
Her friend raised the camcorder again and stared at center stage.
'Rebound was good.'
'But I didn't know I'd come all the way here and get to hear their new song.'
"Original song, First Martini. We'll begin."
The male student holding the microphone proceeded with the stage without hesitation.
As soon as that introduction ended...
-!
The song they had prepared spread throughout Seoun Hall.
"Uh..."
The student and her friend's eyes met.
"It's similar to earlier?"
"They said it was an original song... It feels like the same song?"
It was only the intro, but most were certain.
That it was considerably similar to the song I Hyeonsang had shown just moments ago.
In an instant, commotion spread through the audience seats.
"What, why is the same song playing. Is it a glitch?"
A situation where the cause was unknown.
Finally, the male student spat out a rap.
"A canvas painted mindlessly, left with only regret--."
"Trying to fill it once more with the color I've finally found--."
His vocalization pierced through the chaos as if to show them all.
Same melody, same rhythm, clearly the same beat, but...
It was a completely different rap.
The students' commotion subsided.
Now, rather than what sound would flow out, they focused on what story would be told.
They listened closely to the male student's story.
"Not running down, but blooming properly, the concentration of my paint--."
"Now I draw even a single flower so it won't be swept away--."
Honestly, it was hard not to.
Lyrics that embedded themselves in one's ears without even trying.
'...It's my first time hearing it, but I can make out all the lyrics.'
Gim Eunyeong was experiencing with her ears the delivery her friend had mentioned earlier.
A strange feeling came over her.
This choked-up feeling she couldn't get from any of the stages she'd heard before.
To think she'd receive such an impression from a team performing the same song as the previous stage.
'Even when shooting the same angle and scene, the photo comes out differently depending on the photographer.'
She tried to use her major knowledge to analyze that emotion as best she could.
Around the middle of the song, she finally grasped it.
'It's discernment.'
What the male student was showing was discernment.
A color of his own that couldn't be compared to any other team. A stage of his own.
Even if someone painted with the exact same color...
Standing next to him would make one a mere imitation, the male student was showing through his stage.
"Wow...."
A cry of admiration came out naturally.
There was no need to worry that her friend with the camcorder would look at her.
Because both he and she were already focusing their gazes on the stage where Bak Jahun stood.
The exclamation flowing from her gaping mouth gradually grew louder.
At the point when the song entered its highlight.
When Bak Jahun grabbed the microphone with both hands and spat out an incredibly dense amount of lyrics in an instant.
Every student in Seoun Hall, including herself, made the same sound with mouths agape as if they had promised.
"Waaah!"
"He's so fucking good!"
Everyone shouted with voices as loud as Bak Jahun's.
'So this is what it's about.'
Goosebumps crept up her arms.
Students stretching out their arms and cheering wildly, students shaking their heads like crazy to the beat.
The scenery she couldn't understand at first was now felt with her whole body.
Because she was doing it herself right now.
"Pfft, see? I told you it'd be fun."
At the moment the stage wrapped up, her friend laughed and hit her shoulder.
"...Give me back what you gave me earlier."
She knew she was being teased, but had no time to think about that.
"Huh?"
She took back the ballot that had been given during the performance earlier.
Then immediately wrote someone's name.
[3rd Year Preliminary Round Ballot]
-Bak Jahun.
Because there was no longer any reason to leave it blank.
* * *
"Waaah!"
The cheers continued until I came off the stage.
'My ears feel like they're going to fall off, but...'
It was good. Better than any reward.
The audience nodding their heads to the same beat as me, cheering me on.
Isn't that exactly why a rapper stands on stage.
"Good work."
I smiled and looked at Seonji.
Because it wasn't a stage I had created alone.
"You too, Jahun."
Seonji raised the corners of her lips into a sheepish grin.
But unlike usual, she wasn't simply all bright and cheerful.
She still seemed bothered by something.
Thanks to that, the suppressed anger surged up once more.
I Hyeonsang, who made it so she couldn't enjoy this great performance to the fullest.
Now it was time to make him pay the proper price.
"Ha... No, we just did the song exactly as I Hyeonsang gave it to us."
"Yeah! I'm telling you I'm the original creator!"
As I approached the waiting room, it was noisy inside.
'Who is he making excuses to?'
It was clear a fight had broken out over the plagiarism issue, but who on earth was pressing him on it?
Usually, not many students stepped forward on such sensitive issues.
They'd need proof or conviction that I was the original creator, wouldn't they.
"Lying until the end. Have you ever composed before? This is the first time I've heard of it."
When I opened the door, I saw a familiar face fuming with anger.
It was Gim Deureom, pressing the Pin Legs team members all by himself.
The guy was so fired up his face had turned red.
Seeing the other students standing far away just watching, I could immediately tell what had happened in the waiting room.
'While the students were trying to figure out who plagiarized, Gim Deureom must have stepped in.'
"Isn't Bak Jahun the same? Honestly, Oseonji made Rebound."
Still, I Hyeonsang did not acknowledge his fault.
"No, who would plagiarize from a kid who transferred in just half a year ago?"
He was merely trying to turn this situation to his advantage with his shallow cunning.
"What does transferring in have to do with skill?"
"And his ears are amazing, right? To the point he can transcribe by ear in one go."
"That doesn't really matter eith--"
I Hyeonsang seemed to think that was the nail in the coffin, and continued.
"Now do you get who should be under suspicion?"
'He was born with a silver tongue.'
Listening to him made a sigh come out automatically.
If only he had used that flexible tongue for rapping.
"Gim Deureom."
I opened the waiting room door.
"Uh, Bak Jahun..."
Ignoring the piercing gazes, I approached through them and spoke.
"Thanks."
It was an expression of gratitude for fighting on my behalf because he believed in me.
And at the same time, a silent signal that I would handle it from here.
"Shameless beyond belief."
I glared straight at I Hyeonsang.
"Me?"
"Who else would it be? Here."
"What's shameless about me. I just composed the song as it came to me."
"Ha, as it came to you?"
Constant denials.
I narrowed my eyes and continued.
"...I've never seen you listening to jazz music?"
"W-what are you talking about."
"You said it came to you. Then it's natural you'd be influenced by the music you usually listen to."
"...Do I have to listen to jazz for this kind of song to come out?"
"To follow the chord progression at the very least, isn't that obvious?"
The guy blinked as if flustered.
He must be searching his head for a plausible answer.
Though it would be a terrible answer.
"...Including Attention's 'Salra, dolra, dele,' there are so many jazz sampling songs."
He must not have dozed off during class, seeing how he spoke smoothly without hesitation.
"I was influenced by that kind of music. I followed that progression, so of course this kind of song came out."
"So you're saying this song was inspired by a jazz beat?"
"That's what I'm saying!"
His still-shameless attitude.
Really...
"Thanks."
For choosing self-destruction yourself.
I raised the corners of my mouth seeing the flustered guy.
"This song isn't jazz, it was taken from classical chords."
"What?"
His pupils shook anxiously.
To charge in without even studying this much. Whether he's ignorant or brave.
I drove the nail into his dumbfounded expression.
"You can compose a song without even knowing what chords they are? That's quite an amazing genius."
It was checkmate.
"Wow, he wrote a song without even knowing the genre? That's ridiculous."
"Honestly, I thought it was weird from the start. His harmony scores are always at the bottom."
The watching students threw in a word each at the balance that had collapsed in an instant.
"Fuck...."
Unable to endure the gazes, I Hyeonsang ran out of the waiting room as if fleeing.
"Wow, that bastard is really crazy."
Gim Deureom said, glaring at the door.
"But what about the voting? Shouldn't we tell the judges or something?"
He looked at me as if worried.
He was probably worried we wouldn't get scores because of the plagiarism controversy.
"We don't need to."
But it was a needless worry.
After all, they are the teachers of Seoun Arts High School.
The teachers have ears too.
* * *
Seoun Hall, after the performances had ended.
The teachers sitting in the very front assigned scores on the papers before them.
They were the teachers serving as judges for today's preliminaries.
"You heard it."
Sim Yujin was the first to move her pen.
Recalling the evaluations she had made while listening to the performances, she transferred the scores.
'These kids were the problem.'
Her hand, which had been moving without hesitation, stopped when she saw one team's name.
"-Scratch...."
Looking around, most had paused at the same spot, lost in thought.
[Pin Legs]
[Seonji & Jahun]
The two teams that had performed the same song.
They were teachers who respected each other's grading standards, but this time they needed to discuss.
"What do you think about these teams?"
A teacher asked.
It was Gim Jeongsik who answered. After a brief moment of thought, he opened his mouth.
"Did you all not listen?"
At those words, Sim Yujin smirked and nodded.
If you listened to the stage with both ears, the answer was already set, was what it meant.
Then, as if it were only right...
The remaining teachers nodded in unison.
The scores were being given only to Bak Jahun's team, of the two.
Regressor on the Beat